Hello Kind Friend – I’ve had been weeks, but the bad ones crystallize the solidity of the Buddhist belief in developing an “inner refuge.”
I wish you all the best – it would be so cool to meet some day

– – – –During Sunday’s Meet the Press, the National Rifle Association’s Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre sat down with host David Gregory and defended his organization’s universally panned call for armed guards to be stationed at every school in the country.

The NRA’s tone-deaf press conference on Friday has been widely criticized by all corners of the political arena, and several commentators were quick to point out that armed guards stationed at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech and Fort Hood in Texas were all unable to prevent mass shootings. But LaPierre dismissed those cases on Sunday, and said that lawmakers should be willing to try anything that might work. Anything, noted David Gregory, so long as it doesn’t involve guns and ammunition:

GREGORY:This is a matter of logic, Mr. LaPierre, because anybody watching this is going to say ‘hey wait a minute. I just heard Mr. LaPierre say that the standard is we should try anything that might reduce the violence. And you’re telling me that it’s not a matter of common sense that if you don’t have an ability to shoot off 30 rounds without reloading, that just possibly you could reduce the loss of life? Would Adam Lanza have been able to shoot as many kids if he didn’t have as much ammunition?’

– – -COMMENT: —Scott DouglassThanks David for exposing this blood-soaked so called “patriot” for what he really is. It was good to watch this “Hitleresque haired” blowhard share the true nature of his manifested gun culture. Wayne’s “more guns” logic is about as credible as having more drunk drivers on the road if you want to curb drunk driving fatalities… – – -***hands out –BAND AIDS*** Oooooweee! :>)

– – -C’MON – –KARMA!!! – —

Camille

Oh puhleeeze. David Gregory isn’t “shocked” about shit.

They all know exactly what their roles are in the interest of their greedy corporate owners.

GreenLadyHere

HEEY SisCamille. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

– —***fist bump*** – – -What we have is yer basic —slanted headline — — – Howeva – – -his CHALLENGE??? —And you’re telling me that it’s not a matter of common sense that if you don’t have an ability to shoot off 30 rounds without reloading, that just possibly you could reduce the loss of life? – – -added 2 other statements which CALLED lapierre — -IL-LOGICAL [MILD 4 STOOPID!] – –

Good 2 C U SisCamille. :>)

Camille

Good to see you Sis.

We need a major overhaul of our media or we should just shut the whole thing down.

When seriously self-absorbed, shallow psychotic mediocre assholes like Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd, David Gregory, Ed Henry etc are the prime news personalities and the drivers of whatever narratives their corporate masters desire, then we as a nation are seriously doomed.

– – –This was a 2003 article. Don’t know ifff there were any changes. :>)

TyrenM

Continued. CBS – Viacom, Owners of Showtime and more.
ABC – Disney. Owners of ESPN, Disney Channel and more. I don’t know where their money went but judging from their “reporting” I’d say not the same direction as mine.

Christopher Plummer actually sang the song himself, but they dubbed it for the film release. Here is the version without dubbing, it’s the original voice of Plummer.

Hearing Plummer’s version, I think the film makers made a mistake. Plummer version woulda fit the emotion and tenure of the scene perfectly.

rikyrah

LOVE IT

isonprize

lamh, you REALLY want corny? I love “The Sound of Music” so much that I used the song in the wedding for my wedding entrance down the aisle instead of the traditional Wagner that most folks know as ‘Here comes the bride.” I know the melody and lyric to every single song in this movie!

JojoRaze

Wasn’t that the instrumental to “How do you handle a problem like Maria?”

Wasn’t that kind of telling your husband, you were trouble? LOL!! Congratulations to you and your hubby either way.

isonprize

Hey Jojo. Yes it was and yeah, on second thought, that is actually kinda funny. I know you meant no harm, but we’ve been divorced for years! But I have absolutely fabulous memories of my wedding and reception. I chose pieces from Duke Ellington’s sacred ‘Black, Brown & Beige’ for the ceremony and BANNED the electric slide from my reception, at least until after we left!! LOLOL

I wasn’t a ‘bridezilla’ though. I told my bridesmaids that I could care less what they wore, as long as they showed up on time and sober. As it turned out, they coordinated beautifully!!

PERFECT!!! (if there are any ‘closet’ rockers out there, you will recognize the following. Rob Zombie is about right… LOLOLOLOL)

Mars needs women
Angry red women
Mars needs women
Angry red women!!

GreenLadyHere

HAPPY HOLIDAYS isonprize. ***BIG HUG*** :>)

–LOL —I KNOW –RIGHT! ?? – —

Good 2 C U isonprize. :>) – –[PA RAWKS♥] —

Camille

This Michelle Cottle chick needs to be flogged – Taliban style. She irritates the hell out of me and when she comes on Rev Al’s Politics Nation, I immediately switch channels. There is just something so off-putting about this sly, ugly woman-

I stumbled across this article she wrote from a few months ago and I can safely say that this woman like her boss Tina Brown, Arianna Huffington, etc. are so obsessed with President Obama and are so determined to ruin him in all their hell hath no fury glory.

These are women who have never come to Michelle Obama’s defense when she has been viciously attacked and maligned time and again by all and sundry, but we are to believe Michelle Cottle takes offense with President Obama “patronizing” and “insulting” anecdotes about his wife Michelle?

Yes, Michelle Cottle really, really cares about Michelle Obama and feels the need to take up for her against that horrible misogynistic husband of hers!

These people! LOL.

“—I’m a big fan of political pandering. Forget the shamelessness, the emptiness, the glaring disingenuousness. Pandering is an indication that a politician recognizes the importance—the electoral power—of a particular voting bloc. It signals that, politically speaking, your demographic has arrived.

That said, I have mixed feelings whenever I watch President Obama work that gender gap on The View.

Tuesday was Obama’s fourth appearance on the ABC daytime gabfest, his second as POTUS. At this point, he’s got his routine down pat: glide in; banter with Whoopi, Joy, Sherri, Elisabeth, and Barbara; hit the talking points du jour; field a few gently probing political questions along with a couple of goofy pop-cultural ones; mention Michelle and the girls as much as possible; smile, smile, smile; then glide on out—leaving a good chunk of the show’s 4 million mostly female viewers hopelessly smitten.

In the midst of this impressive charm offensive, however, I can’t help but feel a smidge patronized by the whole display: the warm-and-chummy sewing-circle atmosphere, the endlessly patient and fatherly tone Obama uses when answering questions (the more complicated the issue, the more he sounds as though he’s speaking to not-so-bright children), and, oy, those cutesy quips about Michelle.

Back in 2010, for instance, the POTUS made a lame joke about how he was there because he’d been “been trying to find a show that Michelle actually watched,” as opposed to “all those news shows [where] she’s like” click, click, click. Obama held up his hand like he was pointing a remote control at the telly.

Now I realize Obama’s aim was (1) to flatter his hosts and (2) to portray the first lady as just another normal American with no interest in hard news. Still, isn’t it just a little insulting to get everyone giggling about how your wife insists on having her current events served up lite and fluffy?

This time around, addressing his much-buzzed-about crooning at an event in Harlem, Obama shared that Michelle “gets jealous” when he sings in public. “She thinks this is kind of a private thing.”

Again, I appreciate the president’s desire to telegraph a regular-couple-in-a-regular-marriage kinda image. But surely he can come up with a way to establish faux intimacy with women that doesn’t make the first lady out to be an insecure mate who feels threatened when her hunky hubby unleashes his inner Al Green in front of others. In a word, blech.—”

Ms. Cottle just like MoDo the President is not paying you any mind. Go sit down hater.

Worldwatcher7

She does sound rather thirsty in this article. Po’ chile.

rikyrah

this is all about Michelle Obama.

I guarantee you that this woman, like so many others, don’t remotely have a man who displays their adoration towards them the way that POTUS does FLOTUS.

Camille

Of course it is Rikyrah!

These green-eyed women just can’t stand it. This idea that Michelle Obama who isn’t in their minds, part of their carefully delineated sisterhood sphere, gets to have it all.

How dare she! And without their permission or begged for assistance too. She hasn’t groveled for the support or validation of the “Beckies” as you call them – and yet has successfully earned and retained the love and respect of the American people and people the world over.

There has been a concerted play at driving a wedge between President Obama and the First Lady. Or doing just about anything to chip away at their marriage and bond which many see as a powerful driver for their success.

The Obama marriage now seems to be the final frontier in this obsession to destroy this presidency. And they are now laser focused on trying to chip away at the Obamas.

Lately it’s been a clarion call to President Obama by everyone from “historians” to Dan Rather insisting that the President needs to “defy” Michelle and spend more of his precious free time, not with his young family, but socializing and glad-handing D.C folks like Congress people who are miffed and obstructing him because he fails to socialize with their sorry arses.

Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous??!

The man has won a second term in spite of the assholes, but we are to believe that he should now neglect his wife and daughters to attend to the social needs, unchecked egos and insecurities of these shallow, petty elected idiots who won’t do the jobs they have been sent to D.C to do otherwise??

These people are determined to destroy the most important thing that has kept this President popular and much loved – his marriage and relationship with his spectacular wife Michelle.

And they won’t let up until they can make a dent in it.

Why else would Dan Rather and others now keep insisting that the President “defy” his wife and “renege” on his “agreement with his wife” about prioritizing quality time with her and the kids when he isn’t engulfed in the serious business of running a country?

And does anyone really think that besides the opportunity for scrounging for any amount of gossip and tid bits to be used AGAINST the President and to further demean him via another one of those yet to be published books by Ed Klein or Bob Woodard and their “anonymous sources, these Congress people or the Wall Street idiots and self-appointed D.C elite would actually behave any different if the President abandoned his wife and socialized more with them..??

The President won re-election in spite of these D.C louts and thanks in great part to his smart, amazing and super-insightful and intuitive wife Michelle.

Only a fool would change the dynamics now.

rikyrah

they still don’t understand Black Professional Sensibilities.

you have work

and you have a personal life

and rarely do the two of the meet.

I love that POTUS and FLOTUS suscribe to this.

JojoRaze

The one thing I got out of the Time Magazine POY write-up on PBO was that his family life is what makes people like him so much. The separation and realness that creates between he, his wife and his daughters is what makes him popular. They basically said that even Republicans like him as a person. Like you said, no need to change the formula to kiss up to back-stabbing, backbiting people, who are out to get him–the attacks on Susan Rice and Chuck Hagel for one.

The media need to watch that series “The Unwritten Rules.” Professional black people do not share their business on the job. The job is the job and home is home.

nathkatun7

“Professional black people do not share their business on the job. The job is the job and home is home.”

I totally subscribe to this rule.

GreenLadyHere

HAPPY HOLIDAYS nathkatun7. –***BIG HUG*** :>)

***MEGA fist bump*** — –MUCH TRUTH!! —
Its a STR8 “cultural thang!” –Learned it at an early age! :>)

Good 2 C U -nathkatun7. :>)

conlakappa

Klein is Joe, unless there is an equally hating Ed out there too! Along with the myth that a biracial child would have the least of both races, I think the President shatters the myth that black men just want to get with white women. How dare he not hang around them and lust after their women?! How dare he show a black woman that he adores her and behave as if she is the only one in the room?!!

Camille

Oh there is an Ed Klein. The idiot that wrote the book where he says Bill Clinton called President Obama an amateur.

The sense I get from these articles, is that they have to find something, anything to criticize the Obamas for because there are no obvious flaws. So, they nitpick at little stuff that makes the writer look more petty than the subject, the Obamas. So, I don’t mind these articles because they show the utter vacuousness of the people writing them and the dignity of the Obamas.

There is one thing in this article that I agree with: Michelle Lavaughn Robinson Obama does not like her man to be viewed solely as a sex symbol. She doesn’t mind PBO being considered handsome–FLOTUS even checked Matt Lauer who was trying to hint PBO was graying like Uncle Ben in 2010–but the ogling and the Al Green/Teddy Pendegrassing of the president by Maureen Dowds of the world she can live without.

And I agree with her. It hit me during the BP oil spill when the press was trying to get a chest shot of PBO in the water and Michelle was the one to shut it down…I remember reading the Tweets from the press about it. The press was tart but they only released the picture of PBO with Sasha in the water.

Two: after PBO sang Al Green and revealed it’s something he does for Michelle, I didn’t want him to do it again. Let him have stuff for just him and Michelle. The reason why Bill Clinton got in trouble was because he really thought he was a “public person” in the widest sense of the word; that he was open to anything and anybody. PBO, gladly and wisely, separates his public self and his private self because the public self is the job, the private self is for family and friends. No lie, the main things I pray about for PBO is wisdom to do his job, and that he doesn’t cheat on Michelle.

So no, I don’t want PBO to sing to me the electorate, everyday, save that for Michelle; I don’t want him to dance Gangnam style…save that for embarrassing his daughters. I want him to be as good a father as he is president.

Camille

Thank you and well put!

If President Obama ever cheats on Michelle, it’s over. He can kiss his entire life work goodbye.

A lot of what makes him appealing and inspiring even with his brilliance and all that, is the amazing love and bond he and his wife share. And he ever loses sight of that, it’s downhill all the way for him.

As hard as I’ve fought for him, I will personally destroy him. And I’m not joking. LOL.

rikyrah

If President Obama ever cheats on Michelle, it’s over. He can kiss his entire life work goodbye.

The Black Snob wrote a piece about the reaction from folks if it was revealed that POTUS had cheated on FLOTUS – it was one of the funniest things she’s ever written, because every word was true.

There would be no ‘celebrity’ for the ‘ other woman’ – she’d have to go into hiding.

JojoRaze

I remember that article…it was hilarious! I also remember the part that if the potential side-piece was a sista, it would be worst, because we’d be like “Why did you go and ruin a good thing? WHY????” She’d get run out of town on a rail and disown by every black person in America!

GN

Exactly, and the press needs to trust PBO and FLO to strike those balances and deal with their personal lives in whichever manner they deem most appropriate. Our country has so many challenges right now, but who is in the WH is thank God not one of them. People with enough time to dissect the First Lady’s interest in The View could be well-served to spend that time addressing any one of the numerous issues much more so affecting the lives of girls and women in this country.

conlakappa

But that would mean like work and stuff! And failing to look down upon women who watch The View.

nathkatun7

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. It’s clear to me that it’s envy, pure and simple, that drives these so called women journalists like her.

GN

Re: Cottle, it must be really NICE to have this much time on one’s hands, and so few concerns that any of these items (FLOTUS preferring The View to other news shows; POTUS telling cute anecdotes about a wife who he so clearly respects) could induce negative emotion…

JojoRaze

The one thing I got out of the Time Magazine POY write-up on PBO was that his family life is what makes people like him so much. They basically said that even Republicans like him as a person. Like you said, no need to change the formula to kiss up to back-stabbing, backbiting people, who are out to get him–the attacks on Susan Rice and Chuck Hagel for one.

GN

Exactly–he’s liked because he’s a really good guy with a wonderful family, who is currently overperforming in one of the toughest jobs on the planet. He always speaks of the First Lady in the most glowing and respectful terms, and is hands-down THE best and most visible role model for positive black manhood currently on the scene. So now they’re complaining that he and his wife like The View??? Oh please. I’m so over these sensationalist people who make careers and/or obsessive hobbies from fussing at President Obama.

Ebogan63

Oh FFS, she can have a fucking seat. Cottle, you will NEVA have what Michelle has: Barack Hussain Obama! Get fucking over yourself!!

rikyrah

Stefan Becket @stefanjbecket

Bob Dole got out of his wheelchair to walk to Daniel Inouye’s casket. “Danny’s not going to see me in a wheelchair.” bit.ly/VeyZXR

– — —“Republicans used to be interested in not running continual rivers of red ink. If that meant raising taxes a little bit, we always raised taxes a little bit. But nowadays taxes are like leprosy and they can’t be used for anything, and so Republicans have denied themselves any bargaining power.”

— Former Rep. William Frenzel (R-MN),- quoted by the New York Times.

goldenstar

Not enough rats are ditching the ship. There are still enough in the hole to come on tv and act the crazy,

GreenLadyHere

LOL GOLDenstar. –I KNOW -HAH!? —

Maybe their –SlooooooW EXIT is due 2 the fact that soma dem R waitin’ 2 C IFFF IT is –REALLY SINKIN’. LOL

I can more see them acting like that drunken heckler being escorted from a comedy show, “Don’t push me, don’t push me, I was going!”

JojoRaze

deleted…meant as a response to Camille below.

isonprize

Christmas Jazz? I have become totally smitten with this version of ‘O Holy Night’ by Trombone Shorty (funny that he’s actually playing the trumpet here).

He and a few of his New Orleans friends played this for a since-cancelled TV show that I know nothing about – Studio 60. I thank the person who gave me the supreme joy of editing the dialog so that the ‘brass choir’ could be heard uninterrupted. Enjoy!!

I think that someone here linked to a piece at politicususa in which an author noted that the latest emo tantrums are as per usual, bereft of fact yet full of drama and emotionalism.

The below comment, in response to that article, is exhibit a as to why I no longer listen to these people at all; I honestly just no longer give even a sliver of a fuck what they say–I don’t believe that they are protecting progress and they’re not even entertaining anymore, just tedious, boring, and 90% are flat-out stupid–they brought us 2010 and have tried to sabotage bona fide liberal reforms such as HCR at every turn:

[name redacted]
Dec. 23rd, 2012 at 1:20 am

Negotiate? Did Bush negotiate, NO?

We had an election and we WON!

The Bush policies FAILED, time to reverse them. The GOP needs to get over it.

The cliff is far superior to ending the New Deal and Great Society and if Obama caves AGAIN he will go down in history as the worst President EVER!

His legacy will be the death of the Democratic Party and the end to the American experiment in democracy. The 1% will have won and the people will have lost.

EVERYTHING is in the balance. This is not emotion this is FACT. Obama need to BE the Hope & Change he promised for ONCE & get a backbone!

Why so many people no longer listen to emos or read their crap? Case closed.

gc

I closed the case a long time ago. It’sa just a non-starter for me. You know me GN, I believe you can’t separate the political, or anything else for that matter from the personal. What is the hold DKOS and the like have on people? My theory is it is related to the oldest trick in the Pavlovian book: in termittent reinforcement. It controls and shapes behavior. Instead of crackers they give out “likes.” They use the systen elsewhere, but there it is blown up to mega proportions.
I don’t know if you are referring to the trash thrown at Deaniac, as I read neither incidident, LOL. I know who I can trust. Period. EOS (End of Story)

The only time i detect a flicker of bitterness in my psyche, is when the Kobots SWEAR they have given the site up, and then…..they must have needs fulfilled over there. One young woman I was crazy about is hooked on arguing. Her life, her time. The others “WE ARE FAMILY”. But so is KMART in a way. KMART, they boycott.

Ebogan63

Obviously an idiot that understands neither politics or governing.

GN

Exactly; this individual has made himself completely hysterical over a set of negotiations which it’s clear that he doesn’t even understand. Four years of emos’ crap is enough for me.

—Here’s an EXAMPLE: – —
— –LOGICAL. :>)Deborah – I did read the articles. There is no “there there”. No facts only hype. YOU follow both my discussion and CBPP and CAP and learn something. This is not about you – it’s about rational logic and understanding. You have little acumen in policy which is totally clear, and yet you appear to think that because you say something we should bow down to it. Sorry – “free to be you and me” isn’t working in the adult world. You are NOT given an award for generalizations without substance. Facts matter.

And more to the point, Chained CPI is now off the table since it was a lure to get Boehner and the GOP to agree to something they’d already said they supported. So get over yourself and move on. — —

– – —Representative and Senator-designate Tim Scott told host Bob Schieffer on CBS’s Face The Nation Sunday that a “rush to judgment” on the nation’s plan to end gun violence would be “a bit premature.”

Asked by Schieffer what he thinks of the NRA’s proposed plan to put armed guards in schools across the U.S., Scott said, “I think the president has just established a committee to take a serious, holistic look at what we need to do as a nation to make sure that our kids are safe.”

He continued to deflect questions on his view, but never explicitly embraced the gun lobby’s plan, either. He told Schieffer, “I think after we have the committee’s report we should take a very serious look at whatever it takes to keep our kids safe at school.”

—Annnd da –PARTY MANTRA!! – — ->Scott reinforced his view that we “don’t know” yet what the answers might be to end gun violence. He said that “finishing the week of so many funerals,” we should “continue to pray” for the victims and their families.

— —-On Saturday, the Rev. Al Sharpton announced his plans to protest the NRA in support of stronger gun control laws. A nod to his Occupy the Corner campaign earlier this year, during which locals gathered at some of New York’s most violent intersections to exhibit solidarity against rising gun violence, Sharpton referenced the shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and called for action, reports the Daily News.

“We need to get a real movement against those who get rich off the perpetuation of killing,” said the civil rights leader …

He urged Congress to pass meaningful gun control legislation, ripping its inaction after the mass shooting at Virginia Tech or the one in Tucson that gravely wounded then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and killed six others.

THIS — -> “They shot one of their legislators in Tucson and they still didn’t put a new bill on the table,” he said.

Read more at the Daily News.
THERE IS MORE. – —

— -Goooooo -> REV. AL.!!! :>) —MAY U B BLESS with HIS strength!!AMEN.

rikyrah

found this in the comments at BJ about that article on what went wrong with Willard;

CaseyL Says:

It’s kind of amazing, how quickly the GOP became nothing more than a graft-&-grift operation, with the Romney campaign being the capstone project. I would love to see a comprehensive breakdown of where all that money went, esp. the money that didn’t go directly to advertising but disappeared into various “consultant” and “media buyer” pockets.

Here’s a question: Did the capstone project succeed?

I mean, sure, a billion dollars is one hell of a successful con. But four years is a long time to wait for another payday of that magnitude.

What will the prime grifters until then? It’s hard to go back to the small time stuff, birtherism and omg-gays-gettin-married, after pulling off a big one. I don’t see gun control as a big enough issue, if for no other reason than that well’s been pretty thoroughly plumbed. (Plus the NRA already owns it and is probably not big on sharing.)

They’ve been waiting for years for Social Security to be gutted; were counting on a Romney Administration to do that for them. That ain’t gonna happen. Obama may or may not fiddle around with CPI; even if he does, that’s hardly the trillion dollar windfall “financial advisors” have been dreaming about.

ACA? GOP-governed states have opted out. That means the Federal government will set up exchanges for the people in those states. I frankly don’t know if they’ll be required to buy through the exchanges, or if they’ll be able to take their subsidies and go to an insurance company on their own. If the latter, that will be on the grifters’ radar. (And lord knows, people who voted in the GOP governors in the first place will be dumb enough to get fleeced by non-existent insurance companies.)

What if they decide the GOP faithful are played out, and decide to try working the left-hand side of the street?

nathkatun7

Thank you Sepia for sharing Christmas music by some of the Jazz Greats.
I wish the POU family a Merry Christmas!

GreenLadyHere

MERRY CHRISTMAS – -nathkatun7. :>) –B BLESSED. :>) – –

nathkatun7

MERRY CHRISTMAS, GLH! I wish you and your and your family a happy and blessed New Year!

MR. PRESIDENT is NOT ashamed 2 display hi EMOTIONS. – – – -His COMPASSION is a STRONG part of his CHARACTER. BLESS HIM. :>)

— -RIHEP Sen. Daniel Inouye. —AMEN. –CONDOLENCES 2 ALL. -AMEN.

Camille

Sorry, but doesn’t the President get to set HIS foreign policy agenda? What is this shit about people always trying to tell the President what to do or put out crappy narratives in the media like this?

I’m sorry but there has been too much of this gushy pro-Kerry propaganda that makes it clear that it’s not so much random stuff as much as it is Kerry-driven.

He hasn’t even been confirmed and we already have all these non-stop attempts at strong-arming President Obama via carefully worded and placed media articles. With of course lots of praise for Hillary but not a kind word for President Obama.

This is just a sign of things to come. Expect lots of leaks from John Kerry’s State Dept to try to push back at President Obama whenever Kerry doesn’t want to do it President Obama’s way.

Sorry, but I’m just not impressed and like I’ve said often, I don’t trust John Kerry – but he is bound to overplay his hand at this rate. Watch and see.

“—John Kerry could be a great secretary of state. The question is whether President Obama wants him to be.

This administration puts a high premium on control. Foreign policy—much of domestic policy, too—is run from the White House, not Foggy Bottom or the other Cabinet departments. Hillary Clinton has been an excellent envoy in her four years on the job: a prodigious messenger (she traveled to more countries than any previous secretary of state) whose high profile and political talents have made her a credible, appealing face of America’s global reach. But no “Clinton doctrine” has emerged from her tenure. She tried to enunciate one in a “major policy addresses” on the primacy of people-to-people relations, especially women’s rights. Obama cited some of these points in a speech or two of his own, but they’ve had little traction in the world of real policy.
It’s possible, though, that Kerry could play a more assertive role, if not in setting Obama’s second-term agenda, then at least in drawing up the game plan on how to carry it out. Certainly he comes into the job with a tangible—and successful—record of doing just that.

Kerry, who spent much of his youth abroad as the son of a foreign-service officer, has been doing the sorts of things that diplomats usually do throughout his Senate career. During Bill Clinton’s presidency, he devoted endless hours to restoring relations with Vietnam, making more than a dozen trips to his old battleground, and doing so in alliance with Republican Sen. John McCain, a fellow veteran of that war but one with a very different outlook. (Kerry headed a major anti-war organization after leaving the Navy; McCain spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison.* It was Kerry who reached out to McCain; the two are still good friends.) He also helped set up a tribunal on genocide in Cambodia and led the effort to assist the new democratic regime in the Philippines after the ouster of Marcos.

As foreign-relations chairman, he has made countless trips to the Middle East, Europe, Asia—all the world’s crisis spots—and knows the key players, and the political terrain, as well as anyone who might have been named to the job and better than most (including, I think, Susan Rice). As Obama said of Kerry during his announcement this afternoon, “He’s not going to need a lot of on-the-job training.”
So it’s a good bet that Kerry will do Obama’s bidding, whatever that may be, with professionalism. The question is whether he will set at least part of that agenda himself, either in the issues he pursues or the policies he prefers—that is, whether the skills he’s displayed and the trust he’s earned translate into being allowed to play a leadership role in U.S. foreign policy. Kerry seems up to the task. The answer rests with Obama.—”